Sarna News

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Phecda's orbit has slightly shifted, taking it further away from the system star. This means that Phecda's surface temperature has been dropping for the past few hundred years and more and more of its surface water is being hidden underneath growing polar icecaps. The elongated orbit also makes traveling to Phecda very time consuming. As Phecda relies on interstellar trade for everything it needs to support human life, reducing this travel time is critical. During the Star League the people of Phecda had placed four stations between the world and the jump points, which allowed traders to transship their cargo more quickly. The trader would drop off his cargo at the first station and pick up his outbound cargo of water purifiers built on Phecda, returning to the jump point. The cargo that was delivered to the first station would then be shuttled to the next station, where it would be dropped off and a new group of water purifiers would be taken to the first station. The second station would then deliver materials to Phecda and return with a load of water purifiers. This let the interstellar traders make more of a profit and allowed the Phecdans to survive.[1]

Unfortunately these mid-point stations were destroyed in the Succession Wars. As a result, Phecda's population slowly dropped and by the end of the Succession Wars Phecda was little more than a military outpost whose only value lay in its position.[1]

In 3024 the mercenary unit - and noted treasure hunters - Snord's Irregulars discovered the remains of a Colossus-class DropShip on Phecda. The DropShip had been buried, but had retained it's structural integrity despite the length of time the vessel had been buried; Snord's Irregulars managed to salvage a stockpile of spare parts and 'Mechs from the DropShip, and the Lyran Commonwealth later cannibalized the DropShip itself.[35] Snord's Irregulars had been assigned to Phecda because of raids launched by the Free Worlds League Military; the Commonwealth had been attempting to construct a large water purification plant on the planet, but the League kept attacking and destroying the plant while it was being built. Snord's interest in the battles on Phecda were based around information he had obtained indicating that a Colossus-class DropShip that had crashed in fairly intact shape on the planet during the fall of the Star League. Aware of League spies on Phecda, Snord gave the impression that his unit, true to their reputation, was more occupied with chasing lost treasures than defending. A mock "water purification plant" was built in the place of the previous one, while the efforts were made to construct the real plant in secret a few kilometers away, at the site of the Irregulars’ supposed treasure hunt. As Snord had anticipated, the spies did not look for a second plant when one was apparently being built in plain sight in the usual spot. As expected, a FWLM company attacked when the plant was reportedly near completion, but the false compound turned out to be a trap filled with explosives. What remained of the League force was mopped up over the next two days, and according to Snord’s official report he estimated that only three to five enemy 'Mechs made it back to their DropShip. It was during the battle that an Irregulars' scout 'Mech found something metallic under the ice that turned out to be the lost DropShip. The Irregulars recovered a fortune in items including many functional BattleMechs and well-preserved supplies from the derelict. All of the superior weapon systems and sophisticated lostech was secretly moved to the Irregulars' base on Clinton for investigation. An appropriate share of the findings, stripped of all advanced technology, was handed over to ArchonKatrina Steiner in recognition of the support she had given the Irregulars over the years[14][15] - although Cranston Snord had secretly been ordered by ColonelJaime Wolf to hold back any advanced technology, and to add only one additional company of 'Mechs to the Irregulars.[15]

Following the invasion of the Free Worlds League by the Skye and Bolan Provinces of the Lyran Alliance in what was termed Operation ÜBERSCHATTEN, Marshall Jeremy Brett took command of the local FWLM and launched a counteroffensive, under the name Operation BROKEN FIST. BROKEN FIST went beyond simply attempting to recapture worlds that the Lyrans had seized, striking into Lyran space at numerous worlds. Phecda was one of the worlds hit and was captured by the League on the 1st of September 3068.[36]

The Word of Blake occupied Phecda later during the Jihad, incorporating it into the Word of Blake Protectorate. Forces fighting on the Lyran front of Operation SCOUR liberated Phecda in January 3078, although the commanding officer on the Lyran front, DukeRobert Kelswa-Steiner, took critical injuries during the battle for Phecda and had to transfer command of the Lyran front to Gregory Kelswa-Steiner.[27] On the 14th of February, after Group IV had completed the conquest of Phecda, Duke Kelswa-Steiner gave an interview to Marlena Stockheart of SBC; the Duke made a point of highlighting that Gregory Kelswa-Steiner's performance to date and his grasp of matters such as logistics and strategy as a part of Operation SCOUR had attracted praise from many quarters, including saKhanIvan Kerensky, the Duke's second in command.[37]